Day Two of the Oregon Global Debate Camp July 26th
"Hi All!
We started the morning with breakfast in Carson Dining. There were an array of choices of food
from eggs, French toast, sausages, and other hot foods to cold cereals, fruit, and pastries. There
was a nervous energy at the beginning of the morning that was undeniable. Everyone seemed
eager to engage and learn. Today our population of students divided into two groups: Individual
Speech Events and Debate. The smaller of the two groups were the students committed to
doing individual speech events. This group started the morning with Steve Clemmons teaching
about interpretation events and finding energy and inspiration in individual events. One of the
exercises we did was an Improv drill. We went outside to enjoy the beautiful day and take
inspiration from the things that we saw. This exercise had one person getting loose, shaking
out all the nervous energy and getting loose. Then, the chosen person had to freeze into a
position and the rest of us had to create a backstory about what we saw. The amount of
creativity was great to see and had us laughing at the various stories that we came up with.
This exercise was designed the scholars to get comfortable with each other, but also learn to
become storytellers without words.
After the lunch break, students met with me and Amanda Perkins to learn about informative
speeches and how to write them effectively. Students later also began to work on their speech
topics and more activities with Steve. For dinner, we had Carson where they served a salad bar,
meatloaf, potatoes, roasted chicken, and an array of other items.
Debaters worked on learning about the topic with a topic lecture from Jackie and Mike on the
Affirmative and Negative sides of surveillance. They also touched on research and
development, (There is a much more detailed lecture tomorrow from Dr. Trond Jacobsen about
how to become more effective researchers in general. I am excited about this lecture as this
will help the students become better at finding information quickly without having to rely on
Wikipedia or GOOGLE for information) as well as seeing a demonstration debate. The
demonstration debate showed them a debate on the topic that included Steve and Mike on the
Affirmative, with my school year partner Amanda and Jackie on the Negative. The students
enjoyed the debate and got to see how some of the arguments can be implemented in a debate
round. The students had to judge and give reasons why they voted the way that they did. This
is a valuable lesson to get into the minds of the judge and learn how to think about what the
judge might wonder when making their decision.
Students are now wrapping up their evenings. We will be starting tomorrow after breakfast."
Thanks,
Aujalee
Day One of the Oregon Global Debate Camp July 25th
As the Director, this is the most exciting and nerve wracking day of the camp. This is the time where
caring adults are entrusting us to educate their scholars in the various nuances of speech and debate.
As someone who has over twenty years in debate camps, this never get any easier. My day started off
with the coordination of the shuttle runs from the Eugene Airport and the Portland Airport. By
coordination, I mean I DROVE the shuttle! Not the most glamorous work, but it’s one of the things that I
like doing, since I can be the first friendly face the campers get to meet.
The shuttle runs always have some hiccups, and this one was no different. At the EUG airport, one of our
campers had a bag that didn’t make it on the plane. I thought that bags, like small children are not
allowed to travel alone? After waiting an hour for the bag, without any results, we left the airport to go
to campus. Fortunately, it was a small bag that did not have any essential items. (Secretly, all items are
essential, or why did we pack them in the first place?) The one issue is that the hour delay slightly threw
off my timing to PDX.
Going to PDX allowed me to get campers and show them a friendly face, instead of catching the HUT
Shuttle, which makes a couple of additional stops, is more expensive and takes about three hours to get
to Eugene, instead of two hours. Daniel Silberman, a senior debater here at the University provided
assistance for this trip. The timing worked out, because we got them checked in (to Earl Hall the dorm)
and off to Carson (our dining hall) to grab dinner.
The camp officially started with me welcoming them to our campus and very briefly talking about the
purpose of the camp and the direction that their experience will take them. Dr. Mike Baxter-Kauf read
them the riot act (ok, not really, but hopefully the message sunk in) with the rules of the University and
the rules of the camp. We went over things like when you have to be in the Dorm (9:30pm) and when
you have to be in your room. (11:30pm) Mike gave them the link to all of the various resources that they
might need, like the schedule of events or evidence for use to get debating as soon as possible.
Jackie Massey, a good friend and the Director of one of the most successful debate programs in the past
decade at the University of Oklahoma, gave the students a lecture about the genealogy of debate. This
concluded the first day of the camp. For me, the craziness really dies down after the first day, and we
can really get to work on making your scholar the best scholar that they can be. Over the next two
weeks, there will be many posts about the things that we are doing at camp, so you can follow along at
home. You can look at the various schedules of activities that we will undertake and look at some of the
work products that we create. Again, thanks for choosing us at the University of Oregon and I apologize
in advance if they come home better equipped to win the family arguments!
Steve
Day Two of the Oregon Global Debate Camp July 26th
"Hi All!
We started the morning with breakfast in Carson Dining. There were an array of choices of food
from eggs, French toast, sausages, and other hot foods to cold cereals, fruit, and pastries. There
was a nervous energy at the beginning of the morning that was undeniable. Everyone seemed
eager to engage and learn. Today our population of students divided into two groups: Individual
Speech Events and Debate. The smaller of the two groups were the students committed to
doing individual speech events. This group started the morning with Steve Clemmons teaching
about interpretation events and finding energy and inspiration in individual events. One of the
exercises we did was an Improv drill. We went outside to enjoy the beautiful day and take
inspiration from the things that we saw. This exercise had one person getting loose, shaking
out all the nervous energy and getting loose. Then, the chosen person had to freeze into a
position and the rest of us had to create a backstory about what we saw. The amount of
creativity was great to see and had us laughing at the various stories that we came up with.
This exercise was designed the scholars to get comfortable with each other, but also learn to
become storytellers without words.
After the lunch break, students met with me and Amanda Perkins to learn about informative
speeches and how to write them effectively. Students later also began to work on their speech
topics and more activities with Steve. For dinner, we had Carson where they served a salad bar,
meatloaf, potatoes, roasted chicken, and an array of other items.
Debaters worked on learning about the topic with a topic lecture from Jackie and Mike on the
Affirmative and Negative sides of surveillance. They also touched on research and
development, (There is a much more detailed lecture tomorrow from Dr. Trond Jacobsen about
how to become more effective researchers in general. I am excited about this lecture as this
will help the students become better at finding information quickly without having to rely on
Wikipedia or GOOGLE for information) as well as seeing a demonstration debate. The
demonstration debate showed them a debate on the topic that included Steve and Mike on the
Affirmative, with my school year partner Amanda and Jackie on the Negative. The students
enjoyed the debate and got to see how some of the arguments can be implemented in a debate
round. The students had to judge and give reasons why they voted the way that they did. This
is a valuable lesson to get into the minds of the judge and learn how to think about what the
judge might wonder when making their decision.
Students are now wrapping up their evenings. We will be starting tomorrow after breakfast."
Thanks,
Aujalee
Day One of the Oregon Global Debate Camp July 25th
As the Director, this is the most exciting and nerve wracking day of the camp. This is the time where
caring adults are entrusting us to educate their scholars in the various nuances of speech and debate.
As someone who has over twenty years in debate camps, this never get any easier. My day started off
with the coordination of the shuttle runs from the Eugene Airport and the Portland Airport. By
coordination, I mean I DROVE the shuttle! Not the most glamorous work, but it’s one of the things that I
like doing, since I can be the first friendly face the campers get to meet.
The shuttle runs always have some hiccups, and this one was no different. At the EUG airport, one of our
campers had a bag that didn’t make it on the plane. I thought that bags, like small children are not
allowed to travel alone? After waiting an hour for the bag, without any results, we left the airport to go
to campus. Fortunately, it was a small bag that did not have any essential items. (Secretly, all items are
essential, or why did we pack them in the first place?) The one issue is that the hour delay slightly threw
off my timing to PDX.
Going to PDX allowed me to get campers and show them a friendly face, instead of catching the HUT
Shuttle, which makes a couple of additional stops, is more expensive and takes about three hours to get
to Eugene, instead of two hours. Daniel Silberman, a senior debater here at the University provided
assistance for this trip. The timing worked out, because we got them checked in (to Earl Hall the dorm)
and off to Carson (our dining hall) to grab dinner.
The camp officially started with me welcoming them to our campus and very briefly talking about the
purpose of the camp and the direction that their experience will take them. Dr. Mike Baxter-Kauf read
them the riot act (ok, not really, but hopefully the message sunk in) with the rules of the University and
the rules of the camp. We went over things like when you have to be in the Dorm (9:30pm) and when
you have to be in your room. (11:30pm) Mike gave them the link to all of the various resources that they
might need, like the schedule of events or evidence for use to get debating as soon as possible.
Jackie Massey, a good friend and the Director of one of the most successful debate programs in the past
decade at the University of Oklahoma, gave the students a lecture about the genealogy of debate. This
concluded the first day of the camp. For me, the craziness really dies down after the first day, and we
can really get to work on making your scholar the best scholar that they can be. Over the next two
weeks, there will be many posts about the things that we are doing at camp, so you can follow along at
home. You can look at the various schedules of activities that we will undertake and look at some of the
work products that we create. Again, thanks for choosing us at the University of Oregon and I apologize
in advance if they come home better equipped to win the family arguments!
Steve